NWSL final draws record audience of over 1 million TV viewers

26th November 2025 Oliver Taliku

Gotham FC win the NWSL Championship

The NWSL final attracted more than 1 million viewers on Saturday for the first time in history as Gotham FC beat Washington Spirit in the Championship game.  

Record audience for NWSL final

CBS has reported that an average of 1.184 million viewers were tuned in on Saturday afternoon for the NWSL final.

The viewing figures comfortably eclipsed any viewing stats for an NWSL game which marked a historic occasion for women’s football in the US.

As well as the 1 million TV viewers, there was also 18,000 fans packed into PayPal Park in San Jose, California as Gotham FC lifted the title.

NWSL commissioner, Jessica Berman, spoke on the ‘powerful’ landmark after the figures were revealed.

“Surpassing one million viewers for the 2025 NWSL Championship is an extraordinary achievement and a powerful reflection of the momentum behind our league and our product.” She said.

The 1 million viewers this year was a significant increase from 2024, with 22% more fans tuning in to the final.

There was also a shocking rise in younger viewers as CBS found a 70% increase in 18-34 year-old viewers from last year.

This year also saw a huge boost in fans actually going to games with 111,459 supporters in attendance throughout the playoff games.

A significant rise in fans is a welcome change for the league which saw a decline in average attendance across 2025 after record numbers in 2024.

Rise in support comes at the perfect time

This year’s record breaking figures have come at the perfect time for the NWSL and women’s football in America.

The league agreed to $240million deal in 2023 to be shown on a vast range of networks. ESPN, CBS and Amazon Prime all showed NWSL games this year, rather than only CBS which the old deal used to include.

Of course this is just the start for women’s football in America and the audience is only expected to grow more in the next few years.

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About Oliver Taliku 398 Articles
Olly Taliku has worked with highly respected sports and gambling websites where he has produced hundreds of articles, as well as being published with Burton Albion and Chesterfield FC. At Burton Olly worked closely alongside the women's team, producing mainly matchday content including reports and interviews. He also has experience as an accredited Premier League and EFL writer for Prost International where he worked during the 2021/22 season to produce matchday content as an on location reporter. Olly specialises in women's football as well as long form SEO content plus news and tips. While he enjoys writing about all football, Olly supports Arsenal passionately as a lifelong fan of the club.

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